The "REWARDS" of medaling at the Olympics | Golden Skate

The "REWARDS" of medaling at the Olympics

lcd

Match Penalty
Joined
Mar 11, 2007
With each Olympic Games, the rewards of winning a medal - especially a Gold medal - are in some ways obvious, but also in many ways unique. Some of these rewards are "tangible" - i.e., financial. Others, less predictable and perhaps more dependent upon circumstance (home country athlete?) or the moment (extraordinary performance or emotional moment).

With Russia hosting its first ever Winter Olympic Games, the stakes are obviously high for the athletes, and the rewards potentially considerable.

For Russian athletes winning gold - from the Russian government, will come a check for ~$122,000 (which is more than the $100,000 awarded back in 2010 for Gold). Silver earns $76,000. Bronze earns $40,000.

http://www.nbcolympics.com/news/russian-medal-winners-will-receive-olympic-bonuses

What do you think?
 
Joined
Jan 22, 2004
It would be interesting to see how the prizes compare between different countries.

I remember a few Olympics back, Norway was the only country without any kind of financial reward. Taiwan had the highest one (1 million dollars for a gold medal), given international presence and recognition is very important for them.
 

Sochi_2014

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 4, 2013
I wasn't even aware that countries did this.:confused: How much does the US award for medals? And who pays it? US Figure Skating?
 
Joined
Jan 22, 2004
I found this for London 2012.

BBC News - The Financial Incentives for Central Asian Olympians
The Daily Torygraph 'No Cash Incentives for Great Britain's medallists'
Business Week 'The Payoff From Winning an Olympic Medal'
The Fiscal Times 'How 8 Countries Reward Their Olympic Medal Winners'
Worth more than gold: Russians lead in total Olympic prize money

(Please note that the amounts are very general approximations given the currency price fluctuations. It was also hard to get proper sources in many cases)

Georgia - $1,200,000 for gold
Malaysia - $300,000 cash + a gold bar worth $600,000 from a private sponsor + monthly allowance for the rest of their life for gold [source), $90,000 + two cars + lifetime $900/per month pension for their silver medallist
Singapore - $800,000 for gold, $400,000 for silver, $200,000 for bronze (National Sports Association takes 20% so the figures are artificially inflated - still that's LOADS of money)
Azerbaijan - $510,000 for gold
Phillipines - £221,533 for gold (around $360,000)
Thailand - £203,000 for gold (around $330,000)
United Arab Emirates - $270,000 for gold
Kazakhstan - $250,000 for gold
Kyrgyzstan - $200,000 for gold
Italy - $182,000 for gold
Latvia - $172.000 for gold, $103,000 for silver, $62,000 for bronze
Uzbekistan - $150,000 for gold
Russia - $135,000 for gold (some regional governments offer additional prizes - $1M from Chelyabinsk - bonuses from the Russian Wrestling Federation)
Ukraine - $100,000 for gold, $75,000 for silver, $50,000 for bronze
France - $65,000 for gold
Tajikistan - $63,000 for gold
South Africa - $55,000 for gold
China - $51,000 for gold, nothing for silver and bronze reported (plus local governments offering rewards)
New Zealand - $NZD 60,000 for gold, $NZD 55,000 for silver and bronze (around $50,000 and $45,000 respectively)
Poland - $40,000 for gold, $26,000 for silver, $16,000 for bronze
Austria - gold coins worth $37,000 for gold
Mexico - $37,000 for gold
Japan - $36,000 for gold (some federations offering very large additional rewards)
South Korea - £22,000 for gold in 2008 (around $35,000)
United States of America - $25,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver, $10,000 for bronze
Australia - $20,900 for gold, feature on a stamp and a flight upgrade home
Canada - $20,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver, $10,000 for bronze
Ghana - $20,000 for gold
Germany - $19,500 for gold
Nigeria - N1,500,000 for gold, N1,000,000 for silver, N500,000 for bronze (around $10,000, $6,000 and $3,000 respectively) (source)
Great Britain - $0, features on stamps

India - coaching jobs promised to medallists, financial rewards coming from various government bodies (Sports Ministry gave around $5,000 to the silver medallists, regional governments gave upwards of $161,000! - if you sum it all up, they got quite a lot) (source)

And who pays it? US Figure Skating?

USOC.
 
Joined
Jan 22, 2004
I would imagine that the prizes for the Winter Olympics are going to be lower, given they're not as big or prestigious of an event. Even though Russia is holding the games, the prize package for Russian athletes will be lower than for London 2012.
 

YesWay

四年もかけて&#
Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 28, 2013
Most countries can offer whatever astronomical amounts they like for a gold medal... since they'll never actually have to pay up! :-D

British rewards (or lack of) are a reflection of British investment in skating (or lack of), and sport generally. Sport is business, athletes and fans are resources to be milked for profit. Handing back some of that profit to athletes... is unthinkable.

Mind you, don't British Olympic gold medallists have a good chance of a mention on The Queen's honours list? (I mean a prestigious award from Her Majesty Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith. Not a Christmas card from Yuna Kim ;-D)
 
Joined
Jan 22, 2004
Most countries can offer whatever astronomical amounts they like for a gold medal... since they'll never actually have to pay up! :-D

Most of the countries offering highest financial rewards did pay up. Georgia had one gold, three silvers and three bronzes, for example.
 

iceitout

Spectator
Joined
Jan 11, 2014
Most of the countries offering highest financial rewards did pay up. Georgia had one gold, three silvers and three bronzes, for example.

And then there is good ol' Singapore who only has a medal tally of 4 in the entire olympic history. :slink:
 

Alex D

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 23, 2013
Well countries with many candidates obviously offer a lot less. I am not aware of someone from Uzbekistan going for a gold medal, maybe in snowboarding or freestyle, but its still very unlikely ;)

Germany, Canada, USA will most likely get a few. That said, Russia offers a lot so does China. They can medal in various disciplines!

I wonder what happens if a team wins gold, does the team get the money then or each athlete? Most likely the team, imagine Canada going for gold in Ice Hockey at the women´s and men´s bracket - the country would be ruined *laughs*.
 

cornell08

Final Flight
Joined
May 10, 2009
So...uh...Tim G was my coworker when he was at his first job out of Columbia (I got hired about a year after him) and I remember him saying during overtimes that "the amount he was taxed the year of his OBM made him want to cry." I don't even consider Tim to have been one of the ones to REALLY reap the rewards of being an Olympic medalist-- to me he seemed more under the radar as far as medalists went at the time.

PM me for more, I feel awkward talking about this on the forum when he or his friends might be reading...
 

MiRé

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 12, 2012
Besides tangible rewards, South Korea gives military exemptions to Men who receives a medal of any color
 
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